Gigabyte AORUS GTX 1080 Gaming Box Review – Tiny and Mightier

Introduction

Gigabyte pulled a Hulk move by shredding the clothes off a mini-ITX GTX 1080. If the plastic cooling shroud was on, the massive 130mm cooling fan would have chopped it into pieces. All this transformation was done to fit a beast of a graphics card into the smallest PCIe Thunderbolt 3 eGPU enclosure on the market. The result is the AORUS GTX 1080Gaming Box.

From the outside the Gigabyte AORUS GTX 1080Gaming Box looks identical to its older and slightly less powerful brother, the AORUS GTX 1070 Gaming Box. Seven screws and one metal armor removed shows the major difference between these two – the graphics card itself. All other components are the same.

To handle the increased TDP, Gigabyte implemented a much bigger cooling fan for the GPU. While the AORUS 1070 Gaming Box uses an off-the-shelf GV-N1070IXOC-8GD which has a 90mm fan, the GTX 1080 in this Gaming Box is custom-built with a massive 130mm cooling fan. Due to spacial constraints, there’s no room for a typical shroud covering the GPU heat sink and other bits. In my opinion, it looks awesome naked.

Unlike the AORUS GTX 1070Gaming Box at launch, the Thunderbolt firmware of this AORUS GTX 1080Gaming Box does not suffer from H2D issue. When paired with a Thunderbolt 3 laptop that has full 4 PCI Express lanes for its Thunderbolt 3 port, Device-to-Host/Memory Read should show 2,6XX MB/s and Host-to-Device/Memory Write should show 2,2XX MB/s in either CUDA-Z (Nvidia GPUs only) or AIDA64 GPGPU benchmark. Keep in mind, macOS and Boot Camp Windows via apple_set_os.efi may show 1,6XX MB/s for Host-to-Device. This is a fairly recent observation by eGPU.io forum member lexine and confirmed by others. We’re still gathering more information to determine whether this is caused by the newer firmware of the Thunderbolt 3 MacBook Pro.

The remainder of the components are direct carryovers from the AORUS GTX 1070Gaming Box. The PSU is an Enhance Flex ATX 450W unit that features a single rail 12V. Its wiring harness provides one 24-pin power cable for the Thunderbolt 3 board and one 6 + 2-pin PCIe power cable for the graphics card. There’s no power switch on the PSU. The AORUS GTX 1080Gaming Box turns on when there’s communication with a Thunderbolt 3 host. The enclosure fans are two tiny 40mm units that omit a buzzing noise during use. For more details, please read my AORUS GTX 1070 Gaming Box review.

The main board contains all crucial components of a Thunderbolt 3 eGPU enclosure as well as rear expansion I/Os. On the top side I spotted a TI83 USB-C controller and DSL6450 Intel Thunderbolt 3 controller. The Winbond EEPROM is located on the bottom side. The RGB LED strip is on this same board and can only be controlled by AORUS Gaming Engine software in Windows.

Downsides are build quality and limited upgrade options. Gigabyte essentially built a metal enclosure to barely contain a small PSU, two tiny fans, and the naked mini-ITX GTX 1080. The benefits are a light and compact external graphics card that’s portable enough to be a regular travel companion. The sides of this Gaming Box are 90% mesh to allow sufficient airflow. This is essential to prevent thermal buildup and overheating given the tight space inside.

I’ve tried to swap a few AMD mini-ITX GPUs in this AORUS Gaming Box enclosure with mixed success. The only card I got to run was a Sapphire Radeon R9 285 Compact. This GPU has the same 8-pin power connector as the mini-ITX GTX 1080. My attempts with an HP OEM RX 580 mini-ITX have failed so far. While the GPU physically fits inside this enclosure nicely, the 6-pin power connector presents a challenge that I’ve yet to overcome. I remain hopeful that Gigabyte is working on an AORUS RX Vega Nano Gaming Box.

Power delivery and additional USB ports are nice features for Thunderbolt 3 ultrabooks. There are four standard USB ports in the rear of the box, one of which is orange and serves as a charging port for mobile phones. It has Quick Charge support (QC 3.0) but does not transmit data. The other three USB 3.0 ports can be used with peripheral devices. Power delivery (PD 3.0) is as promised at 100W when connecting with the supplied half-meter long Thunderbolt 3 cable. I tried a 2m Thunderbolt 3 cable, and PD drops to 60W.

Testings & Benchmarks

Of great interest is whether this new Gaming Box works in macOS High Sierra as an eGPU. When released on September 25th, only a select few AMD graphics cards were suitable for external use. Since then there have been positive developments to make use of Nvidia graphics cards as Thunderbolt 3 eGPU in macOS 10.13. One of the workarounds was discovered by a new eGPU.io member, yifanlu. He has created an installer package, NVIDIAEGPUSupport for ease of implementation. I followed his instructions to install this workaround and was able use AORUS GTX 1080Gaming Box with my 2016 15″ MacBook Pro running 10.13 [17A405] as well as 10.13.1 [17B48].

Nvidia web drivers in macOS High Sierra are still very much a work in progress. To extract the most performance from an Nvidia eGPU, Windows 10 is the more appropriate operating system to conduct testing. The Thunderbolt 3 host I used for benchmarking this AORUS GTX 1080Gaming Box is an Alienware 15 R3. It has a quad-core i7-7700HQ processor and an Nvidia GTX 1070 discrete graphics card. I know owners of a laptop with these specs are unlikely to need an eGPU. The reason I chose this laptop is to show the potential of eGPU were PC manufacturers to build more laptops catering specifically to external graphics use.

As discussed in my review of the Dell Precision 7520, the best Thunderbolt 3 eGPU host is one with a quad-core processor, integrated graphics only, and direct x4 PCIe lanes over Thunderbolt 3 connection to the CPU. There’s no such machine on the market that I’m aware of. This AW15R3 comes close in that it meets 2 of the 3 requirements. The discrete GTX 1070 can be disabled through Device Manager so that it works as an iGPU-only laptop.

One observation I had while benchmarking the discrete GTX 1070 graphics card is how loud the Alienware 15 R3’s cooling system was. The fans ran full speed for as long as the dGPU was taxed. I measured a range of 68-71 dB at the two rear exhaust vents of the laptop. Temperature wise, it was averaging 60˚C at these two vents. The Alienware 15 R3 ran much cooler and quieter with eGPU use. The only noticeable heat and noise were from the front of the Gaming Box where two tiny 40mm enclosure fans reside. Heat and noise generation from the AORUS GTX 1080Gaming Box is considerably lower than the AW15R3 (around 57 dB and 38˚C).

In gaming laptops, the dGPU level of performance output based on power source is another concern. The discrete GTX 1070 performs best while plugged in and Energy preference set to Best Performance. During battery use, the system is optimized to preserve battery life rather than maximize performance. Nvidia Experience also caps the FPS at 30 by default. This gaming laptop is very much intended to be used stationary and plugged in.

So who needs this much graphics performance in such a small piece of equipment? The Gigabyte AORUS team would probably say that’s the wrong question to ask. The AORUS brand is operating with a pioneer spirit that’s all about speed. So let’s take a look at the performance differences between the GTX 1060, GTX 1070, and GTX 1080 when used as external graphics cards.

I ran the same synthetic benchmarks at 1080 (FHD), 1440 (QHD), and 2160 (UHD 4K). Here are the specifications of the four graphics cards I used for this review. The benefits of higher performing graphics cards start to show at higher resolutions.

Conclusion

External graphics performance disparity is appreciable going from GTX 1060 to GTX 1070 and from GTX 1070 to GTX 1080. Gaming at higher resolutions reduces frame rates as well as Thunderbolt 3 performance loss. Unlike larger eGPU enclosures, the custom enclosure for the AORUS Gaming Box limits your options for future upgrades. Therefore, my recommendation is to get the best one you can afford.

The Gigabyte AORUS GTX 1070 is already the best value for a full feature ready-to-go eGPU (US$599 currently). The AORUS GTX 1080Gaming Box kicks it up a notch, priced at $700 with the performance improvements to match. This eGPU is a portable powerhouse that truly shines in QHD and UHD gaming.

Excellent review man 🙂 Mine is on the way as well.
One thing that was sort of disappointing was the lack of solutions for the 2 tiny and noise fans. Are you aware if anyone has ever tried to replace them for 3rd party more silent/efficient ones? Is that something that personally bothers you?
eGPU community probably doesn’t care that much about noise but it would be a cool project. I might try doing it myself and open a thread about it if anyone is interested.

@dream3, there’s very little space where these two 40mm fans are mounted. The two fans are daisy-chained together and connect to the main board via one connector. It’s going to be a challenge to find a third party solution to make it quieter. I personally don’t mind the buzzy noise from them. Please keep us updated if you decide to tackle this project.

I don’t see any mention of the problems some users face regarding the USB Hub and the PSU fans that won’t turn off when you power off the notebook, but doesn’t disconnect the Aorus, have you really not encountered these problems?

@Splitframe I didn’t encounter those issues during my testing for this review. My primary task was to share insights of the new GPU inside this box and its performance relative to the 1070 and 1060 eGPU.

The games I play are through a PS4 controller so I haven’t had much time using the USB hub. As with other Thunderbolt 3 eGPU enclosures with expansion I/O, the intermittent keyboard/mouse issues during gaming are not unique to any particular enclosure.

Thank you for the informative review. I just want to know if the rotation speed of the fan is manipulable through Aorus Engine? Or is it fixed? It could be noisy to me if it’s the latter case.
To be more precise, I am referring to the fan of the graphics card itself, not the two little fans.

Nice box but 57 dB still seems very noisy! :-/ I know it’s hard to compare to other noises but it looks like this is almost as loud as a washing machine. And it’s standing on your desk… I think this can be a real issue for a lot of people. I’m looking into buying one of the available enclosure and this noise they make is worrying me. It looks like this is very different between each enclosure and hard to test properly (depending on the room, the sound of the laptop attached, the card, the load on the card… Read more »

57db shouldn’t be anything like a washing machine. Those measurements are very close to the box, and any distance/obstruction is going to drop the levels quickly. 60db is usually compared to an aircon unit 100 feet from the point of listening, and every 10db lower is 1/2 the perceived volume.

I am going to be getting this enclosure ( Just the Enclosure) in the near future. Friend is reviewing then going to pull the card to use just for editing rig. Now i am Tech savvy but i am moving from PC world to the Mac side. I was wondering on how good the power delivery is for a 17″ MBP w/Touchbar the and what is a good GPU to toss in the enclosure. I can solder and crimp and change power connectors. I know AMD RX Vega 56 was a card i was looking at. Figure i would ask… Read more »

Posted by: itsage @dream3, there’s very little space where these two 40mm fans are mounted. The two fans are daisy-chained together and connect to the main board via one connector. It’s going to be a challenge to find a third party solution to make it quieter. I personally don’t mind the buzzy noise from them. Please keep us updated if you decide to tackle this project. Ok, I see what you mean. I think I’ll try to do this anyway but I just wanted to gather a bit more information before starting, since you are very familiar with the inside,… Read more »

Thank you for this helpful review. I’m now considering to get one.
And I’m curious about the GTX 1080 mini inside the gaming box. Is it possible to take it out and install it on a motherboard for desktop PC ?
I mean whether the crazy 130mm cooling fan will be a problem when putting this GTX 1080 mini on a motherboard for desktop PC ?

Hello everyone. Just received the GTX 1080 mini from gigabyte . For those who were planning to replace the card on the Aorus box 1070 , well , it’s just working fine . After 7 screws , the card was replaced . Then a driver update , reinstall the Aorus Graphic Engine and everything seems to be fine . The card itself is different from the one included in the Aorus Box 1080 : the fan is 90mm one like on the GV-N1070IXOC-8GD , but no sign of overheating. On a XPS 15 9550 the difference is really noticeable for… Read more »

Thanks for the great review. If I read correctly you write that: One of the workarounds was discovered by a new eGPU.io member, yifanlu. He has created an installer package, NVIDIAEGPUSupport for ease of implementation. I followed his instructions to install this workaround and was able use AORUS GTX 1080 Gaming Box with my 2016 15″ MacBook Pro running 10.13 [17A405] as well as 10.13.1 [17B48].” So does this mean this external box run properly in High Sierra and what do you mean was able to use it? Can you run for ex. Final Cut Pro X, Da Vinci Resolve,… Read more »

Posted by: dvogiatzis Thanks for the great review. If I read correctly you write that: One of the workarounds was discovered by a new eGPU.io member, yifanlu. He has created an installer package, NVIDIAEGPUSupport for ease of implementation. I followed his instructions to install this workaround and was able use AORUS GTX 1080 Gaming Box with my 2016 15″ MacBook Pro running 10.13 [17A405] as well as 10.13.1 [17B48].” So does this mean this external box run properly in High Sierra and what do you mean was able to use it? Can you run for ex. Final Cut Pro X,… Read more »

I understand the box is more for people that want to run bootcamp and play some games but it would be very good if you could get that extra power for the apps you daily use in mac OS. The big question is: can you use it to drive an external display and switch to internal gpu when an app is not supported or you have to use the egpu if you have an external display?

I’m on 10.12.6 still and I have the 1080 box. Still having issues using eGPU to accelerate professional apps. There’s not a very solid path, at least I haven’t found it yet. I think most people in the community though use it for Windows in Bootcamp or MacOS gaming, so resources are limited.

Hello dream3, what kind issues you have? And when you say “professional apps”, what kind apps? Maybe you try Premiere Pro or Davinci, do you have some problems with this apps?

Thanks for the excellent review. I’ve been using AGB GTX 1070 with great success, and I was waiting for newer version to come out. Now, it’s finally out and it looks to bump the performance quite a bit so I purchased it. I wished Gigabyte would come up with GTX 1080TI version,

Posted by: remiadf
1. The connector is a mini 2-pin.
2. Those 40mm fans are 10mm thick. I think 20mm would fit but it will be tight.
I am using two Noctua 40mm (10 mm) fans. My Aorus gaming box 1070 is much more silent now. Next up is to swap that noisy psu fan.

Woowww that is great news! Can you share more about the specs of the fan and how you were able to connect them?
Is it this one? https://www.quietpc.com/nf-a4x10
By looking at it inside I couldnt find a way to hook 2 fans into that single mini 2-pin header.

Yes, that’s the one. Noctua fans are not the best to use though. You can’t solder of (remove) wires. This fan do come with 3 wires so I just cut the yellow one which only control fan speed. Then I cut the red and black wires close to the connector. Then I stripped the red and black wires and used a terminal crimping plier to merge the red and black cables from both fans into two pins. I also isolated the yellow cable and put sleeves on the wires. Hope that make sense. 🙂 Btw you can just cut the… Read more »

Posted by: remiadf Yes, that’s the one. Noctua fans are not the best to use though. You can’t solder of (remove) wires. This fan do come with 3 wires so I just cut the yellow one which only control fan speed. Then I cut the red and black wires close to the connector. Then I stripped the red and black wires and used a terminal crimping plier to merge the red and black cables from both fans into two pins. I also isolated the yellow cable and put sleeves on the wires. Hope that make sense. 🙂 Btw you can… Read more »

I’ve ordered two of the Scythe 40mm x 10mm fans. Will replace the PowerLogic ones and post the results here. I considered replacing them with one 20mm and one 10mm fan, but it isnt worth it as the 20mm fan supposedly does 4.8 CFM v/s 4.11 CFM for the 10mm.

Posted by: harshw I’ve ordered two of the Scythe 40mm x 10mm fans. Will replace the PowerLogic ones and post the results here. I considered replacing them with one 20mm and one 10mm fan, but it isnt worth it as the 20mm fan supposedly does 4.8 CFM v/s 4.11 CFM for the 10mm. My Scythe fans came … BUT … the fan cable for the PowerLogic fans isn’t the usual Molex 2-pin, rather it is a JST PH 2-pin connector. I could have simply solder the fans to the existing PowerLogic cable but why risk the warranty? For anyone else… Read more »

I just tested this out for you, the voltage is regulated on the board so it was a little difficult to tell but I tested the two pins when the output is at 100% and the voltage is 12v. These fans are also paired in parallel so the voltage stays the same.

I’m thinking of soldering 2 resistors in the circuit so that I can still get the fans to run all the time but at a lower speed
= Less noise.
Right now my fans are just unplugged because I hate the whine.

I got the proper JST PH 2.0 connectors and soldered the two fans in a Y configuration. Note the polarity of the plug. Just started and checked – the fans don’t move as much air but it makes a HUGE difference to the noise. In any case will do a bit of gaming over the weekend to test it out …
The PSU fan is still whiny (seems to be an ADDA). Perhaps my holiday project is replacing the PSU fan and adding something like this to the outside case.

Hello dream3, what kind issues you have? And when you say “professional apps”, what kind apps? Maybe you try Premiere Pro or Davinci, do you have some problems with this apps?

Man this is still a huge mess. I was having issues with that but I was able to find a fix to disable iGPU to force Adobe apps to see the eGPU. That worked. However now with latest MacOS HS update the whole eGPU setup is broken and nothing works anymore.

Posted by: dream3
Man this is still a huge mess. I was having issues with that but I was able to find a fix to disable iGPU to force Adobe apps to see the eGPU. That worked. However now with latest MacOS HS update the whole eGPU setup is broken and nothing works anymore.

Like I know, in Premiere Pro and Davinci you can choose wich card to use in apps! dream3 thats does not work?

Hello, theitsage ! I have AOURUS GTX 1070 Gaming Box, I buy it empty. I interested, how to fix H2D issue ? That my Screen Shot from System Report 131636718
What I need to do with firmware and how it to update? I use MacBook Pro 2017 15′ i7 3.1 / RP 560 / Mac OS 10.13.1
Thank you!
PS
And maybe you can tell which card is best to install in my empty AOURUS GTX 1070 Gaming Box?

@StanislavM, I remember now when there’s no active data transmission System Information » Thunderbolt may show 20 Gbps instead of 40Gbps. For the eGPU enclosure firmware update, please follow this procedure in Windows Boot Camp.

If you primarily use macOS, Radeon cards have better compatibility. I’d say wait for RX Vega Nano if you can.

Posted by: itsage @StanislavM, I remember now when there’s no active data transmission System Information » Thunderbolt may show 20 Gbps instead of 40Gbps. For the eGPU enclosure firmware update, please follow this procedure in Windows Boot Camp. If you primarily use macOS, Radeon cards have better compatibility. I’d say wait for RX Vega Nano if you can. Thank you theitsage ! I’ll use that manual tomorrow. I read about RX Vega Nano and I want it. But I don’t know and afraid a little, what will happened with apps, when I’ll use eGPU AMD(OpenCL) video card + my MacBook Pro… Read more »

Posted by: dream3
Man this is still a huge mess. I was having issues with that but I was able to find a fix to disable iGPU to force Adobe apps to see the eGPU. That worked. However now with latest MacOS HS update the whole eGPU setup is broken and nothing works anymore.

Like I know, in Premiere Pro and Davinci you can choose wich card to use in apps! dream3 thats does not work?

Posted by: itsage
@StanislavM, I remember now when there’s no active data transmission System Information » Thunderbolt may show 20 Gbps instead of 40Gbps. For the eGPU enclosure firmware update, please follow this procedure in Windows Boot Camp.
If you primarily use macOS, Radeon cards have better compatibility. I’d say wait for RX Vega Nano if you can.

Do we have a release date for that one? Might be worth for replacing the 1080 and be issue free forever 🙂

Posted by: dream3 Posted by: StanislavM dream3 Now I use Discrete RP 560 and integrated Iris Pro, and you’ll see in my screen shots only 3 options, but if you’ll use eGPU with nVidia you’ll find CUDA options. Screen Shot 131937472 > Screen Shot 131937489 Yes you are correct. Premiere Pro does show a CUDA option there. I guess it’s properly coded then to recognize the eGPU. It’s a shame that Photoshop isn’t 🙁 dream3 I’m not sure about eGPU reasons. But many users use that with old Mac Pro towers and also me too. theitsage how do you think or know or maybe… Read more »

I have a problem
…not to big deal…. but….
my Macbook pro 2016 15″ with gaming box 1080
Now works under both macos and bootcamp win10
but under bootcamp win10
my windows just recognize the 1080 card and the usb ports…
doesn’t recognize the eGPU box itself..
so the Gigabyte Graphics Engine software can do nothing
it doesn’t show the box in it, only the card, and the config slider and can’t really control them,
and because not detecting the box it self, I can’t configure OC and LED as well

Posted by: deathtrapz
Or just buy the connecter from e-bay for $1 and solder it to that, I’m interested to know this works out in terms of how loud the new ones are. The PowerLogic fans just whine and it are too loud

Yeah but then I wouldn’t have an excuse for buying a crimping tool, magnifier station and assorted connectors 🙂

Great work @harshw! Too bad the PSU fan is still noisy. I wish it was like the Season 1U PSUs that don’t spin the fan unless it goes over 50% load. Still, that other fan you showed might take care of that problem. Do let us know if you try doing that! By the way, is your Aorus Gaming Box a 1070 or 1080? I’ve seen a few posts about 1070 boxes dying randomly which has me a bit worried. Haven’t heard of any problems with the 1080 but it’s pretty new so we’ll see about that one I guess.… Read more »

Posted by: crayonshin Great work @harshw! Too bad the PSU fan is still noisy. I wish it was like the Season 1U PSUs that don’t spin the fan unless it goes over 50% load. Still, that other fan you showed might take care of that problem. Do let us know if you try doing that! By the way, is your Aorus Gaming Box a 1070 or 1080? I’ve seen a few posts about 1070 boxes dying randomly which has me a bit worried. Haven’t heard of any problems with the 1080 but it’s pretty new so we’ll see about that… Read more »

Does anybody know what the noise differences might be between a stock Aorus 1070 box and a stock Aorus 1080 box (with no fan modifications)? Is the 1070 quieter? I’m looking to buy one to game on my new Yoga 920. Thanks all.

Does anybody know what the noise differences might be between a stock Aorus 1070 box and a stock Aorus 1080 box (with no fan modifications)? Is the 1070 quieter? I’m looking to buy one to game on my new Yoga 920. Thanks all.

The noise level is identical to my ears. I hear the PSU’s tiny fan and two 40mm side fans more than the GPU most of the time.

I want to see benchmark in MacOS especially on MacBook, not in regular windows laptop. There are a lot of windows laptop included mid-high end graphics already and it is not necessary talk without MacBook.

I replaced the PSU fan with a KDE1204PKV1.There’s an incredible difference in noise level. Now the main noise comes from the GPU fan – which is perfect, because it isn’t high pitched and there’s no ‘whine’.
Also – the Sunon has the same 8.9 CFM airflow as does the original spec ADDA AD0412HB-C50. To anyone attempting this – you will need to crimp a JST PH 2.0 connector to the PSU fan as well – when I purchased the Sunon fans, all of them came with Molex connectors.

Posted by: harshw
I replaced the PSU fan with a KDE1204PKV1.There’s an incredible difference in noise level. Now the main noise comes from the GPU fan – which is perfect, because it isn’t high pitched and there’s no ‘whine’.
Also – the Sunon has the same 8.9 CFM airflow as does the original spec ADDA AD0412HB-C50. To anyone attempting this – you will need to crimp a JST PH 2.0 connector to the PSU fan as well – when I purchased the Sunon fans, all of them came with Molex connectors.

TL;DR – I don’t know – probably not.
The PSU replacement fan is the same CFM as the original. And the two fans I have replaced in the box do have lower CFMs but I intend to replace the top one with another Sunon 40x20mm that does 9CFM – so it’s tough for Gigabyte to claim that the fans caused problems since the CFMs were equivalent. But you never know with Gigabyte …

Posted by: harshw I replaced the PSU fan with a KDE1204PKV1. There’s an incredible difference in noise level. Now the main noise comes from the GPU fan – which is perfect, because it isn’t high pitched and there’s no ‘whine’. Also – the Sunon has the same 8.9 CFM airflow as does the original spec ADDA AD0412HB-C50. To anyone attempting this – you will need to crimp a JST PH 2.0 connector to the PSU fan as well – when I purchased the Sunon fans, all of them came with Molex connectors. My goal was going to be to quiet the… Read more »

Posted by: harshw
I replaced the PSU fan with a KDE1204PKV1.There’s an incredible difference in noise level. Now the main noise comes from the GPU fan – which is perfect, because it isn’t high pitched and there’s no ‘whine’.
Also – the Sunon has the same 8.9 CFM airflow as does the original spec ADDA AD0412HB-C50. To anyone attempting this – you will need to crimp a JST PH 2.0 connector to the PSU fan as well – when I purchased the Sunon fans, all of them came with Molex connectors.

Ive used the Sunon as well and have to say not really satisfied with the results. At least for me cause Im comparing it to a Noctua. The Sunon has a weird little grindy noise, it is not as smooth as Id like.
But again, it was the only one that ive found with fairly high CFM and low dbA

Following harshw’s footsteps I’ve also replaced my Aorus gaming box 1080’s two loud power logic fans (PLA04010S12H-1) with the two 12v Noctuas (NF-A4x10 FLX). 12v Noctua link for clarity (since theres a 5v version out there that may cause confusion): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009NQLT0M/ I used JST-PH cables and soldered one of them to the two fans in a Y configuration. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072B66P5C/ The color coding of these cables I link is reversed from the color coding of the noctua’s fans (e.g. red needs to go to black) given the orientation the connector needs to match the polarity of the power logic fans. I… Read more »

“the best Thunderbolt 3 eGPU host is one with a quad-core processor, integrated graphics only, and direct x4 PCIe lanes over Thunderbolt 3 connection to the CPU. There’s no such machine on the market that I’m aware of.”

My Razer Blade Stealth has all these things.

I was thinking of getting rid of my desktop and getting Razer Core v2 and either a 1070 or 1080, but now that I have seen the price of the Aorus Gaming Boxes I’m a bit torn! Core v2 has to be better for upgradeability, right?

Posted by: dhiggs I was thinking of getting rid of my desktop and getting Razer Core v2 and either a 1070 or 1080, but now that I have seen the price of the Aorus Gaming Boxes I’m a bit torn! Core v2 has to be better for upgradeability, right? Yeah, strictly speaking a full sized TB3 enclosure (like Razer Core v2) would have better upgradeability than the AORUS Gaming Box because the AORUS Gaming Box can only accept half-length cards (and even then, it’s a tight fit!). They basically custom made a 1080 half-length just for this enclosure, so… Read more »

Hi,
I am looking to buy one of these boxes to work with rendering engines like vray and octane render.
My MBP is a 2013 with nvidia 750m discrete graphics… oh dear…
Does anyone know if it is possible to use this box with my MBP running solely on mac os? I do not have windows or intend to really.
Thanks,
Joao

I recently swapped out the Enhance PSU with an FSP flex ATX 500W unit, and just installed the Powercolor Vega Nano. I was originally very concerned about dimensions, but it fits like a glove. The FSP intake vent is about an inch little lower than the Enhance, so I had to add a shim between it and the back bracket of the Aorus chassis.

The bracket for the original fan is not standard, so you’ll have to install a new heatsink bracket. The original fan works very well though, and is adjustable if you are looking to mount the GPU into a different logic board.

Thanks for the review. Curious if the 8th gen Blade Stealth is working regularly now with the Aorus. It seems like a mixed bag from the different forums and retailer reviews. Any insight would be great.